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Be it as a competitor, coach or roommate, it's tough to keep up with the frenetic Angela Hegge.

MICHEL FORTIER / Daily News

Freshman Angela Hegge has been a breath of fresh air for the Florida Gulf Coast University cross country team.

Fellow Florida Gulf Coast University freshman cross country teammate Megan Thies has plenty of first-hand experience with trying. Along with teammates Cadie Sly and Kim Gallagher, Thies bunks with Hegge at an FGCU apartment.

"Constant adventure," said Thies of life with Hegge. "Very loud. We've had to get used to living with it being loud and crazy all the time and hyper all the time."

The madness starts early. Last week, Hegge, who has finished second twice and first once for the Eagles in their three meets this season, showed up for the 6:30 a.m. speed workouts sporting a mohawk.

When Chris Highfield asked what in the world was up, Hegge calmly responded, "Coach, just trying to be more aerodynamic for the workout today."

Hegge then went out and beat every member of both the men's and women's teams around the 440-yard oval.

Highfield calls Hegge a "firecracker" and tosses out words like "funny" and "quirky" in describing the 5-foot-3, 108-pound whirlwind from Odessa. He laughs when talking about Hegge's off-key singing and parking lot dances on road trips. He fondly remembers, now that he knows it was a joke, a mid-summer text message reply from Hegge that stated she and Thies were on their way for a day of sky-diving, rock climbing and wave boarding.

Hegge definitely cuts against the cross country grain.

"Just random stuff. Freaking hilarious, man," Highfield said. "I love it. I don't know if I've ever been around somebody so dynamic. I love the kids on our team but she just has something special within our personality. We look forward to seeing her every day in practice. You can't always be serious with your team, and she's been the comic relief.

"She keeps us on our toes. I don't know what's coming next from her."

Thies, of Brandon, and Hegge, who ran for Sickles High, began running together toward the end of their senior prep seasons. Thies rattles off stories of Hegge scrawling on snoozing teammates with permanent markers or wrestling in route to meets.

"She's awesome, really funny, kind of random and hilarious," Thies said.

Hegge said she just follows the lead of her off-beat older brother Wesley. And it has spread like kudzo. Highfield said that while Hegge spends tons of time with Thies, she also goes out of her way to hang with her other teammates, who Hegge said already are the closest friends she ever has had. On campus, Highfield said, it is obvious Hegge, a Marine Biology major, has made loads more friends with her wacky ways.

It was a friend who got Hegge into running, she said in that fast and high-pitched voice. The friend did not want to join the team alone as a ninth-grader, so Hegge hopped on-board as well.

"I sucked really, really bad," Hegge said. "I couldn't even run a mile the first three weeks. It was horrible. I don't even know why I kept running."

But she did, all the way to a medalist spot in the mile run at the state championships. She also qualified four times for the state cross country meet.

"It really changed my life in so many ways," said Hegge, seriousing up.

Cross country brought Hegge's family closer together as her parents and Wesley attended the meets. It led to close friendships, a sense of accomplishment and a scholarship at FGCU.

Highfield was the first college coach to seriously chase Hegge. Thies, who already had committed, helped land Hegge, who "fell in love" with the campus and immediately liked Highfield and her teammates-to-be on her visit.

Because of her build -- long legs, small torso -- Hegge, who already has run the 5K in 19:37 (third-fastest in school history), takes great strides.

"People tell me I look like a balerina because I stretch my legs out so far," Hegge said. "It's really weird."

Of course.

"She's tiny, petite, but when she gets on the race course she's so powerful and she's a really smart runner," Highfield said. "She's lean. Not an ounce of fat on her. Her teammates and coaching staff watch her in awe. She's so little, but she's up and down and through these courses like it's nothing at all. She's really a special talent. I mean, she's going to be unbelievable."

Said Thies: "You have to see it. It's like raw speed."

Highfield and Thies agreed that Hegge knows when to put the game-face on.

"We act crazy, just absolutely insane, but we know when to be serious," Thies said.

Even then, though, don't expect Hegge to go overboard with intensity. She can't help but joke a bit with her teammates and compeitors at the starting line, where she always is the shortest runner around.

"We're not actually completely fully serious because you have to have fun with it when you run," Hegge said.